Richford Rockets Roll Past Lady Crusaders 7-1

NEWPORT–Missy Hango had two goals in the first and one in the second to lead the Richford Rockets past the UCA girls 7-1 on Tuesday afternoon.
After Laura Libby nearly got free for a break-away in the game's opening minutes, Richford took over and virtually trapped the Crusaders inside their own forty for the bulk of the half.
While not particularly strong in the middle, the key to Richford's play was the ability of the forwards to stop UCA before they could get very far into the middle of the field.
They were extremely adept at picking off goal kicks and punts, then quickly turning play back towards UCA's goal.
Hango picked up her first of the game on a twenty footer that got past a diving Lydia Samaan and found the far left corner of the net.
After Missy's goal the Rockets continued to pepper Samaan, but the UCA co-captaqin stood strong until Hango struck again.
With less than 5:00 left to play in the first, she managed squeak one past Samaan to make it 2-0.
Moments later, Emma Marchessault kicked in a Hango rebound and it was 3-0 at the half.
Richford kept at it in the second half, netting three more goals before UCA got on the board.
Coach Molly Smith had moved Amy DeLaBruere, who was playing very well on defense up until that point, up to middi from fullback trying to get something going.
"I wish I had a lot of Amy's. She is willing to do anything I ask her and she is so skilled," said Smith.
After switching goalies, the Rockets' back up took to the nets.
Things were going well until she ran out to challenge the Crusaders' Nicole Guest for a loose ball near the eighteen.
Instead of just picking the ball up, the goalie decide to kick it out of the box.
Big Mistake.
The ball, and it was a blast no doubt, found Guest's mid-section and bounced past the keeper to Laura Libby who easily tapped it into the open net.
"We finally got it down there, the goalie came out and I tapped it," Libby said. "If it wasn't for the girls getting it down the field I wouldn't have had that opportunity and I want to thank them for working hard today."
Hango adder her third of the game to secure the hat-trick with roughly a minute left to play, and Richford cruised on the afternoon.
"She always plays amazing and she has a lot of power on the ball and makes smart decisions," said Richford coach Ryan Brier about Hango.
Samaan had ten saves for UCA (0-7-1) while the Richford (5-4) keepers combined to stop two.
"Even though they had a lot of goals, she still had some good saves," said Smith about Samaan.
It is on to Craftsbury on Thursday for the Crusaders.
Last time the two teams met the game went to OT, so it should be another thriller at the Academy when the game gets underway at 4:00.